Walkways have been known for many years. For example, a previously granted patent in Great Britain GB 353 257 (from 1930) describes a construction for loading and unloading a ship. The construction comprises a pontoon adapted to be anchored in the vicinity of the ship and a gangway adapted to couple the pontoon to a point connected to land. On land, a universal coupling is used and also a universal coupling is used at the pontoon so that the gangway shall be able to be swung out to the ship and be pulled back and be parked in parallel along the shore.
This construction has several disadvantages. It takes up too much space in harbour areas and the ship must still lie very close to land corresponding to the length of the gangway which is pushed out. As a consequence, the construction is not normally used in harbours today as it is more common that the gangway has a rolling support from the harbour and is rolled out when used to be connected to a ship. Furthermore, it is necessary that the ship is manoeuvred very close to the edge of the pier, something which can be technically difficult in today's modern harbours.